Residents in the Spryfield area of Halifax are speaking out about ongoing blasting from two construction sites off Herring Cove Road — with one neighbour saying a “close call” with a rock could have killed someone.
Thiago Andrade, who lives across the street from the blasting at the Green Acres construction site, says he was working from home on Oct. 4 when he felt and heard a rumble.
“I heard this huge shake. About 10 seconds after the shake, I heard this kind of noise, as if something had hit the house,” he recalled.
It turned out a large rock had flown onto his driveway — barely missing his car and front steps. He estimates the rock weighs a pound.
“I could not believe it, I really could not believe it,” he said.
“I personally believe in two different types of mistakes: one you can learn from and one that is fatal. This one could have been fatal.”
Following the incident, the company working at the site — Consbec Mining and Construction — was issued a stop work order. However, Andrade says he’d like to see harsher disciplinary action.
“Clearly they used more explosives than they should have, because you wouldn’t see like a stone flying around here if that weren’t the case. That’s the kind of thing that cannot happen ever,” he said.
The monitoring company that’s ensuring the blasts are in line with HRM bylaws says an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
“We’re aware of this and we’re looking into it,” Bruce MacNeil with BME Engineering said. “There’s various people looking into it now, where it came from.”
Andrade adds that he’s been notified the province and the municipality are involved in the investigation.
Global News reached out to Consbec Mining and Construction on Thursday but has not received a response.
Behind Andrade’s home, blasting at a separate site, which began in the summer, has residents at MacIntosh Run concerned as well.
“The sound is just too much sometimes, especially for us that work from home, and sometimes we have a real big shake,” resident William Addai said.
The situation has been so bad, Addai says his family has considered moving to escape the noise.
“In events like this, they would have to engage the community more, instead of a simple letter,” he said.